GK and Current Affairs Updates

Former Indian Cricket captain Sourav Ganguly was on 24 September 2015 appointed as the President of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). The announcement regarding this was made by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat building in Kolkata.

He succeeded Jagmohan Dalmiya and at the time of appointment Ganguly was serving CAB in the capacity of Joint-Secretary.The post had fallen vacant after the sudden demise of Dalmiya at the age of 75 on 20 September 2015. Besides, Dalmiya’s son Avishek Dalmiya was inducted as one of the two Joint-Secretaries, replacing Ganguly. Subir Ganguly will continue as the other Joint-Secretary while Biswarup Dey will continue as Treasurer.

Government Chawngfiang Middle School of Mizoram on 24 September 2015 won the sub-Junior (Under-14) title of the 56th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament. In the final held at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi, it defeated Esteqalal School of Afghanistan 3-2. With this win, Chawngfiang Middle School claimed the purse of 2.5 lakh rupees while Esteqalal School claimed 1.25 lakh rupees and a trophy.

Air Marshal BBP Sinha presented the trophy to the winners while Mizoram Chief Minister Lalthawala presented the cheque to them.Beside this, the Subroto Education Society also offered 25 promising players in the Under-14 section 15000 rupees each, a one-time scholarship. There were several awards and rewards in different categories for the best efforts by the sub-junior boys during the tournament.

Awards   

• Best Player – Chhunga Hmar (Mizoram)
• Best Coach – Lalthawmmawia (Mizoram)
• Best Goalkeeper- Lallamkima
• Most promising player – Uday Shankar Bora (SAI)
• Fair Play Trophy – Namchi Sports Hostel, Sikkim

David Haggerty, former president and chief executive of the US Tennis Association, was elected president of the International Tennis Federation on Friday, beating India's Anil Khanna for the post.Haggerty, 58, was elected to a four-year term on the second ballot at the ITF's annual general meeting in Santiago, garnering 200 votes to Khanna's 192. Switzerland's Rene Stammbach and Spain's Juan Margets were eliminated on the first ballot.

Haggerty is an experienced tennis administrator, having held a variety of roles within the USTA since 2001 and within the ITF since 2009.He is a former president of the Tennis Industry Association and a current board member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.Away from tennis administration, Haggerty had a 30-year career in the racquet industry, and is a former Chairman of Head USA, President of Penn Racquet Sports, and President of Dunlop Maxfli Slazenger Sports.

The tourism departments of Kerala and the Russian city of St. Petersburg will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting tourism in the south Indian state, a statement said.This was finalised after a meeting attended by Kerala tourism secretary G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, Consulate General of India in St Petersburg Arun Kumar Sharma and Rimma Sachinova, deputy chairman of St Petersburg tourism."The trade partners at both ends are confident about business due to the flight connectivity via Dubai and introduction of e-tourist visa facility," Rao said in a statement.

Centre is pushing the Digital India campaign and talking about broadband for all but country’s Internet growth is lagging that of most other countries.The UN Broadband Commission released “The State of Broadband” report just ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals Summit at UN headquarters in New York on September 26.

India’s broadband penetration ranking has fallen to 155th from 113th rank
India ranked 131 out of 189 countries on fixed-broadband subscriptions dropped from the 125th rank.India ranked 80 among 133 developing countries on percentage of households with internet in with a 3% penetration as compared to the 75th rank and 13% penetration previously.

TOPPERS--In total, there are now 79 countries where over 50% of the population is online, up from 77 in 2014. Top 10 countries for household Internet penetration are all located in Asia or the Middle East.The Republic of Korea has the world’s highest household broadband penetration with 98.5% of homes connected.
Qatar ranked 2nd with 98%
Saudi Arabia ranked 3rd with 94%

Senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui has been elected as President of Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) after an election held as per directions of the Supreme Court.Siddiqui, who was the RJD Legislature Party leader in the outgoing Assembly, defeated Vinod Kumar, a former president of BCA, by a margin of 30 votes, a statement issued by retired Patna High Court Judge Dharampal Sinha, who supervised the elections on orders of the Apex Court.

Ravi Shankar Prasad was elected as General Secretary defeating Ajay Narayan Sharma.Ram Kumar was elected as the Treasurer defeating Bibhuti Narayan Sharma by 26 votes.The BCA elections were held in accordance with a direction of the Apex Court in August this year, which had appointed former Patna High Court judge Dharampal Sinha as electoral officer-cum-observer for the polls.

Five Vice Presidents who were elected are Sunil kumar Singh, Gopal Bohra, Anand Kumar, S Mumtazuddin and N K Jamuar

Government has decided to appoint NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariyaas the Sherpa for G-20 talks, replacing Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu."Government has decided to appoint Arvind Panagariya as the Sherpa for G-20 negotiations. At present, Prabhu is holding this position," a source said.As per the practice, the Deputy Chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission used to be the Sherpa for G-20 talks.During the a decade long UPA regime, former Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was the sherpa for G-20 talks.

"At present, Panagariya is in the US and will be back on 27 september. He will start work on his new role only after he comes back," the source said.The next G20 Leaders' Summit is scheduled on November 15-16 at Antalya in Turkey in November.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was on given additional charge of Tripura Governor due to absence on leave of Tathagata Roy."The President of India has been pleased to appoint Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, to discharge the functions of the Governor of Tripura, in addition to his own duties, during the absence, on leave, of Tathagata Roy, Governor of Tripura," a press release issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan said without mentioning the duration.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was on given additional charge of Tripura Governor due to absence on leave of Tathagata Roy."The President of India has been pleased to appoint Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, to discharge the functions of the Governor of Tripura, in addition to his own duties, during the absence, on leave, of Tathagata Roy, Governor of Tripura," a press release issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan said without mentioning the duration.

Former India footballer and member of the 1962 Asian Games' gold medal winning squad Prashanta Sinha passed away.He was 77 years old and is survived by his daughter Sonali and son-in-law Prateek. Sinha was admitted to PG Hospital for the last one month and was in a state of coma for the past week.A left-half, he was best known for being an integral part of India's best-ever 'Class of 62' that won the gold medal at the Asian Games under Syed Rahim's coaching. Sinha, who was in the reserves in fact played the semi-final and the final.

However his finest hour for the national team came when he was brilliant at the 1964 Asian Cup in Israel where India were runners-up, losing the final in Tel Aviv to the home team.Sinha, who made his international debut from a relatively small office team like Eastern Railways, was a stalwart for East Bengal as he played from 1964 to 1971 for the red-and gold brigade.His most memorable match was the 1970 IFA Shield game against Paz Club of Iran. While Parimal Dey's long ranger was remembered but it was Sinha, who worked tirelessly in the midfield.